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This is your chance to decorate with Yoda in a Santa suit, delivering presents to those who use the Force! Any Star Wars fan will be in a holly jolly mood with this tabletop as the centerpiece for their Christmas feast. Order now and enjoy for your 2016 holiday season!

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It’s a new week and we’ve got a really cool episode of Graphic Policy Radio to listen to tonight. While you count down the hours until then, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup.

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In the stand-alone Star Wars Annual #2, Kelly Thompson, Emilio Laiso, and Rachelle Rosenberg tell a story that is kind the opposite of the Hero’s Journey/Chosen One arc of the original Star Wars trilogy. The comic is written from the point of view of Pash “Bash” Davane, an engineer, who was forced to become a janitor when a battle between the Rebels and Empire destroyed almost all the industry on her planet. The first half of the comic shows the real cost of the Galactic Civil War on ordinary folks before taking a little bit of a turn for the epic when it’s revealed that Bash is letting a wounded Princess Leia stay at her house.

Bash Davane is a wonderful addition to the new Star Wars Expanded Universe beginning with the fact Laiso isn’t makes her a broad-shouldered, muscular woman adding some body diversity to that universe. Bash works with heavy machinery and rocks all day so of course she’s ripped. The funniest scene in the comic is when her arms are too big for Han Solo’s shirts, and this is an example of Laiso’s ability to pull out a visual gag in what is usually a pretty dour universe. The choreography of some the setpiece scenes is muddled as Leia is struggling to swim to her rendezvous point at the end of the issue with something being shot at her, but the source is hard to see even though Laiso uses double-page spreads. The earthy palette used by Rachelle Rosenberg gives the comic that Outer Rim vibe, but it hurts the visibility of this particular sequence.

On the flipside, the scenes where Bash is, well, are both powerful and entertaining, especially when she beats the crap out of a stormtrooper with a brick. The fact that Bash is a human tank along with her cynical wit, take no guff attitude, and sees the bad side of both the Empire and Rebellion shows that she is a multi-faceted character, who could bench press Han Solo while simultaneously out snarking him. But she is a bit of softie too as she bonds with Leia throughout the comic and listens to the princess struggle with the death of her people on Alderaan yet still realize that her planet’s destruction was for a greater cause of defeating the Empire. Thompson writes Leia as a true pragmatist, who isn’t afraid to make hard decisions for her cause even if there ends up being collateral damage like stormtroopers tearing up and basically halting all commerce on Bash’s planet while they look for Leia. This may seem like Leia is cold or unlikable in Star Wars Annual #2, but Thompson and Laiso capture the strength of her convictions as she talks about the hope that the Rebellion has brought to the galaxy while practically dying.

Even if you’re way behind on Marvel’s Star Wars comics, Star Wars Annual #2 is worth picking up as Kelly Thompson and Emilio Laiso craft a protagonist, who doesn’t look or think like many of the other main characters in the Star Wars universe. Bash does end up being a kind of hero in the end, but Thompson uses the extra page count to give her a logical arc as heroism is thrust upon her kind of like Han Solo’s last minute save of Luke Skywalker at the Battle of Yavin. And it’s also nice to see a more realistic perspective on the true cost of war in the usually hyper-stylized Star Wars universe with its constant dogfights and lightsaber duels.

Plus Bash has an adorable droid named Bruce, who can swim underwater like a movie directed by one of George Lucas’ buddies…

Princess Leia is on a top-secret dangerous mission that brings her to a planet that wants no part of the war against the Empire. But when an injury threatens to end her mission, can she inspire that rebel spirit in those who just want to keep their heads down? Writer Kelly Thompson (A-FORCE) and artist Emilio Laiso (GODS OF WAR) bring us an all-new tale of Alderaan’s last monarch in action!

442nd Siege Battalion Clone Trooper – Crush Cato Nemoidia! These lean mean green biological fighting machines were sent to crush the Trade Federation stronghold during the final hours of the Clone Wars.

Shock Trooper – The Emperor’s squad! Charged with keeping Coruscant and the Emperor safe, these red-clad troopers are ready to help, and also mow down opposition to Palpatine’s New Order.

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Netmarble Games Corp. is working with Lucasfilm Ltd and today announced the development of Star Wars: Force Arena, a real-time PvP game based on the globally popular Star Wars franchise. The free-to-play real-time PvP game optimized for the mobile environment will feature over 65 iconic characters, vehicles, and units upon its global launch.

Star Wars: Force Arena takes place within the Star Wars universe and allows players to choose between the Rebellion or the Empire and command a squad of units to battle against each other in real-time. Players can build squads by recruiting characters with different skill and attack abilities with character cards that can be acquired after each battle and upgraded to strengthen the squad.

Dominating your opponents in the arena will grant top leaderboard placement for rewards, special characters, and bonus items. Strategy and skill will be put to the test as players can build customized decks of characters that feature legendary duos, such as Han Solo and Chewbacca, which boost effectiveness in combat. Leveraging this duo advantage effectively could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Compete with your favorite iconic characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Ezra Bridger, and more. In Star Wars: Force Arena players can form unique squads providing seemingly endless ways to play. The game also has various modes of play to choose from, such as single player, training, and real-time 1v1 or 2v2 multiplayer.

To kick off the game’s pre-registration, all players that sign up will be rewarded crystals that can be used as in-game currency to purchase items and strengthen characters within the game. Depending on the number of players that pre-register, more crystals will be given to players for a duration of two weeks after the official global launch. 250 crystals will be rewarded if more than 10,000 players sign up, 700 crystals for more than 100,000 and 1,400 crystals will be given to all players if more than a million sign up for pre-registration. Players can sign up for pre-registration at the game’s official website.

Key Features Include:

BATTLE and join forces with other players from around the globe in real-time 1v1 or 2v2 synchronous, PvP arena matches.

LEAD a team of over 65 iconic Star Wars characters and vehicles upon global launch including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Ezra Bridger

COLLECT and upgrade your favorite characters to create the ideal Rebel or Imperial squad while leveraging powerful character duos that boost your effectiveness in battle.

COMPETE to earn rewards, special characters and bonus items by participating in events.

Graphic Policy believes in journalistic integrity and transparency. We will disclose when a product has been given for free for review and/or when no cost has been incurred to the staff so that you may be able to make a fully informed decision as to the opinions provided.

When a product has been provided for free you will see disclosure at the bottom of the article. When such a disclosure does not exist, you can assume that the items have been purchased for review.